Bamboo is a large tubular grass with a hard outer shell, making it suitable to use as an alternative for woods, thereby saving many forest lands from destruction. Bamboo is extensively used as flooring material in many East Asian countries.

Bamboo flooring sales have shot up over the years and the reasons are quite obvious; they are attractive, versatile, affordable and above all environment friendly.

Basic Forms of Flooring

Bamboo flooring comes in two basic forms: solid planks and engineered planks.

Solid, tongue and groove bamboo is handled and installed similar to the other regular hardwood flooring. The planks are secured down with nails or staples with or without mastic.  As we all know, nailing  and stapling can be a time consuming process, So is the installation of solid flooring normally takes twice as long as engineered planks to install.

The good news is, solid bamboo flooring  produces a permanent and rock solid floor; they also come prefinished and one can transport all your things  as soon as you finish flooring instead of having to wait until the finishing’s polish dries.

There are three different kinds of solid bamboo flooring:

1) Vertical grain solid strip
2) Flat grain solid strip
3) Strand bamboo

Vertical grain solid strip is composed of thin bamboo strips stacked on the edges and glued together. These floors give a mottled look and are ideal for hiding dirt as well as providing an interesting look to the room

Flat grain is the most common method of preparing Solid wood. In this process, the thin, flat strips of bamboo are stacked one atop the other and then laminated together.

Strand bamboo is obtained from super thin   shredded bamboo fibers that are mixed together with resins and pressed into rock hard planks.

Costs

A solid bamboo plank costs less than engineered planks. Prices are often based on the thickness of the planks; thicker the plank, greater will be the price.

Warranties are excellent indicators of the quality of wood. The best wood comes with a longer warranty as compared to low cost wood.

Advantages of Solid Bamboo

Solid bamboo finish gives one the most natural look amongst other types of bamboo flooring. The surface of the board will have quite rich features and some interesting patterns enhancing the ‘look’ of the room to another level.

Scratches and dents tend to occur on the woods after some time on the floors. With solid bamboo planks, one can sand down and refinish the surface at frequent intervals, making it look new and shiny again.